Creating Multimodal Texts in the L2 Writing Classroom

Abstract

This chapter examines an ESL writing class at a U.S. university that employed a re-mediation assignment to complement and facilitate the understanding of rhetoric. A re-mediation assignment asks students to transform text-based material into a multimodal form by combining linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and spatial modalities. Students are to make use of the affordances and audiences of the new form without losing the core components of the original text. Findings suggest that students demonstrated motivation and engagement with the assignment and writing process, in part, because they were allowed to infuse other abilities (drawing, computer programming, video editing, and storytelling), languages, and cultures into their projects. As multimodal and multimedia digital literacies continue to evolve, digitally mediated projects such as re-mediation are necessary to prepare students to be competent writers in a digitally mediated society.